Bored Games

The first semester is over; summer break is here for the students. They get a nice vacation, July 21 – August 30, during which they can play outside or relax or study at various private academies that specialize in different subjects. Some students even sign up for English camps, but there will be another post on those later.

So for now, I have to show up to school for “work days,” also known as "desk warming." Thing is, I’ve finished all my work. Summer English camps are planned. Lessons for next semester are already filed neatly in three-ring binders with digital copies saved in a folder labeled “John” on my computer desktop. That means I’m here and there’s not a whole lot to do. Here’s a rundown of my day.

8:00. Arrive at school.
8:00 – 9:15. Check email, read the news, IM Beth on Facebook, listen to my iPod.
9:15 – 9:20. Listen to my iPod. Look out the window.
9:20 – 9:25. Stare at the wall. Also, listen to my iPod.
9:25 – 9:40. Watch some music videos and live performances on Pitchfork.tv.
9:40 – 9:42. While I’m looking for the principal to sign off on the sick leave I took Monday, one of the office workers asks what I’m doing here.
9:42 – 9:50. Daydream about vacation.
9:50 – 10:30. IM some more with different people on Facebook. Decide to listen to Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago all the way through. On my iPod.
10:30 – 11:30. More surfing the Internet and playing flash games. Order Chinese for lunch.
11:30 – 12:00. Read American Gods.
12:00 – 1:10. Lunch. Fried rice, dumplings and ice cream.
1:10 – 2:30. Nap.
2:30 – 4:20. Read American Gods.
4:20 – 4:30. Check email, surf the Internet, post this blog, pack up.
4:30. Leave school.

The semester ended yesterday. Today’s Wednesday and I have two more days of this. Don’t get me wrong; it’s kind of nice to have a bit of a break and be left to myself, but this is what a “work day” entails. Maybe tomorrow I’ll be more productive.

Found this video today. It pretty much sums up the desk-warming experience:

Vote For Pedro

Sorry this is kinda old but at the beginning of June Korea had elections. For what positions, we have no idea, we couldn't understand what they said, but we had to post about the campaigning.

It started about April, with large billboards that covered entire buildings (see the picture below), but nothing too out of the ordinary. Then in the mornings we noticed men in suits on the side of the streets waving/bowing, next to one or two people with brightly colored shirts on (I liked candidate #7 cause the hot pink shirts). By the end of May, it was a full-blown disaster.


The last weeks leading up to the election brought on the trucks riding around the city, with loud speakers saying to vote for soandso (think Mayor "Red" Thomas's 1955 campaign in Back To The Future), but with really loud, annoying Korean pop music. There are obviously no noise ordinances in Korea. We woke up several times to these trucks riding through our apartment complex. The downtown intersection where the bus drops us off was out of control. There were trucks blasting music and politicians on every corner with about 10-15 supporters in the brightly colored matching outfits dancing, bowing and waving. Derek would stand right next to me and we couldn't even hear each other. At first it was funny, but after a week of it, we were ready for election day. My description doesn't do it justice, so I had to take a video to prove how bad it was. And this was on a good day, only two trucks with music, imagine it with four!

On the plus side, voting day is a national holiday so we didn't have to work. And, since we are foreigners the politicians never gave us the time of day! Anyways, next time you're complaining about the campaigning back home, just play this video and think, "It could be worse!"



This cartoon is from a blog we like that deals with foreign teachers living in Korea. It pretty much sums up the whole post. Check out the blog here.